Dual-task Training for Frail Older Adults With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain (Pilot)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain; Frailty

Treatments: Other: Dual-task training program; Other: Resistance exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07035327

HSEARS20250310005

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the feasibility and effect of a 10-week dual-task training program on frailty status in community-dwelling older adults with frailty and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Main question: Is a 10-week dual-task training program, that combines resistance and cognitive training, feasible and accepted by community-dwelling older adults who have frailty and chronic musculoskeletal pain, and what is the effect of a 10-week dual-task training program on the frailty status in community-dwelling older adults who have frailty and chronic musculoskeletal pain?

Participants will attend supervised training sessions (either dual-task training [Intervention group] or resistance exercise [Control group]) for 10 weeks.

Enrollment: 38 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults, of either sex, aged 60 years or above,
• living in Hong Kong, being able to read and communicate verbally,
• screened frail using the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) (total score ≥5) with report of memory problems (question 9) (Gobbens et al., 2010),
• experiencing any CMP with a pain level higher or equal to 4 in the numerical pain rating scale over a consecutive 3-month period.

Exclusion criteria

Any individuals with either of the following will be excluded:

• absence of frailty,
• surgical procedure in the lower limbs or the vertebral column;
• wheelchair bound or inability to walk for five minutes;
• severe balance impairment;
• uncompensated cardiac or vascular condition;
• acute inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions;
• ongoing cancer; dementia;
• neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar disease, myelopathy, and peripheral neuropathy;
• mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar, psychosis, borderline personality disorder;
• illiteracy.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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38 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group - Dual-task training program

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the intervention group will engage in a dual-task training program, in which resistance training will be incorporated with cognitive tasks (2 sessions per week for 10 weeks consecutively). The training sessions will take place in an academic institution under the guidance and supervision from the members of research team.

Treatment:

Other: Dual-task training program

Control group - Resistance exercise

Active Comparator group

Description:

Subjects in the control group will perform the resistance exercises only (2 sessions per week for 10 weeks consecutively) without receiving any cognitive training. The training sessions will take place in an academic institution under the guidance and supervision from the members of our research team.

Treatment:

Other: Resistance exercise